January/February 2020 Vol. 7 No.

1 National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

SpaceX
Completes
In-Flight
Abort Test

KENNEDY
LOOK AHEAD: 2020
 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER’S
SPACEPORT MAGAZINE
CONTENTS For the latest on upcoming
launches, check out NASA’s
Launches and Landings
Schedule at
4 SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test complete
www.nasa.gov/launchschedule.

Want to see a launch?

8 Solar Orbiter embarks on mission to face the Sun
The Kennedy Space Center
Visitor Complex offers the
10 Kennedy Look Ahead: 2020 closest public viewing of
launches from Kennedy
Space Center and Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station.
20 OSCAR launches on Blue Origin New Shepard Rocket Launch Transportation
Tickets are available for
some, but not all, of these
22 Team practices booster stacking for Artemis missions launches. Call 321-449-
4444 for information on
purchasing tickets.
24 Looking Back: From Spaceport News to Spaceport Magazine
When will the International
Space Station fly over you?

29 Remembering our heritage Find out and sign up for alerts at

spotthestation.nasa.gov

30 The many stories of the Vehicle Assembly Building

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s
The Kennedy Space Center Press Site team gathered for a photograph with the
Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:30 a.m. EST on Jan. 19, 2020, iconic Vehicle Assembly Building in the background. Included in the photo are the
carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft on the company’s uncrewed In-Flight
news chief, Spaceport Magazine staff, graphic artists and public affairs officers.
Abort Test. The flight test demonstrated the spacecraft’s escape capabilities
in preparation for crewed flights to the International Space Station as part of Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray
Check out Rocket Ranch Episode 19: This is the final issue of the center’s Spaceport Magazine. You can still get news
Launching Artemis. Sometimes, history
inspires us. Sometimes, we find ourselves
and updates about the space center’s activities and accomplishments.
To get the latest Kennedy Space Center updates, follow us on our Blog, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter. in the middle of history being made.
Now, we are in the middle of the most Follow us on the web at www.nasa.gov/kennedy
KSC aggressive push for the Moon since we

BLOG landed there for the first time 50 years

ago. Learn more from a conversation we
Check out the Kennedy blog at https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy

had last year with NASA’s first female

Follow us on twitter @NASAKennedy
Launch Director, Charlie Blackwell-
THE SPACEPORT MAGAZINE TEAM Thompson.
or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nasakennedy.
Editorial Writers Group Creative Group Read the full transcript and catch up on
missed episodes at https://www.nasa.
Editor............................. Linda Herridge Jim Cawley Linda Herridge Amy Lombardo Cassandra White gov/kennedy/rocketranch.
Asst. Editor.................... Anna Heiney Anna Heiney Danielle Sempsrott Richard Murrey Matthew Young
 Launch Escape “As crew members, our families, you can imagine,
are very interested in these escape systems and
how well they work,” said NASA Astronaut Mike
Hopkins, who viewed the test from Kennedy’s
Launch Control Center firing room. “And so we’re
going to be following very closely as the data comes in
and we continue to analyze it.
NASA, SpaceX Successfully Complete “We’re excited where we are right now; we’re
excited to continue training to finish up the testing
Critical In-Flight Abort Test and get ready for launch.”
Prior to the flight test, teams completed launch
BY JIM CAWLEY
day procedures for the first crewed flight test, from

N ASA and SpaceX completed a launch escape demonstration of the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft
and Falcon 9 rocket Sunday, Jan. 19. This was the final major flight test of the spacecraft before it begins
carrying astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
suit-up to launch pad operations. The joint teams
now will begin the full data reviews that need to
be completed prior to NASA astronauts flying the
The launch escape test began at 10:30 a.m. EST with liftoff from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s system during SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission.
Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a mission to show the spacecraft’s capability to safely separate from the According to Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief engineer,
rocket in the unlikely event of an inflight emergency. Crew Dragon’s peak velocity was double the speed
“Another amazing milestone is complete for our very soon-to-be project, which is launching American of sound, or Mach 2.2, and achieved an altitude of
astronauts, on American rockets from American soil for the first time since the retirement of the Space Shuttle 131,000 feet.
Program,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during Sunday’s post-test news conference at Kennedy. “I think these are very exciting specs for this abort
“Congratulations to SpaceX and the entire NASA team on this final major flight milestone that we needed to to have gone more than three times the altitude of
accomplish. By all accounts, this was a very successful test.” a typical airliner and to accelerate that rapidly away
As part of the test, SpaceX configured Crew Dragon to trigger a launch escape about 1.5 minutes after from the booster,” Musk said. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken stand near Launch Pad 39A at the
liftoff. All major functions were executed, including separation, engine firings, parachute deployment and Musk also pointed out that the spacecraft landed agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 17, 2020, during a dress rehearsal ahead
landing. Crew Dragon splashed down at 10:38 a.m. just off the Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean. in the ocean through relatively high winds, which will of the SpaceX uncrewed In-Flight Abort Test. In the background, the company’s Falcon
9 rocket is topped by the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The flight test will demonstrate the
aid in preparation for the upcoming Demo-2 crewed spacecraft’s escape capabilities in preparation for crewed flights to the International Space
mission. Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Hurley and Behnken are slated to
“Overall, as far as we can tell thus far, it is a fly on the company’s first crewed mission, Demo-2. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
picture-perfect mission; it went as well as one can
possibly expect,” Musk said. “I’m super fired-up;
this is really great. We’re looking forward to the next
steps.”
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working
with the American aerospace industry as companies
develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft
and launch systems capable of carrying crews to
low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
Commercial human space transportation to and from
the station will provide expanded utility, additional
research time and broader opportunities for discovery
on the orbiting laboratory. The program also has the
benefit of facilitating and promoting for America a
vibrant economy in low-Earth orbit.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is offloaded from the “This is an important step on a long journey,”
company’s recovery ship, Go Searcher, at the Port Canaveral NASA astronaut Victor Glover said of in-flight
Army wharf in Florida, carrying the company’s Crew Dragon
spacecraft following the uncrewed In-Flight Abort Test, Jan. 19, abort. “We’re looking forward to the data analysis A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s
2020. The flight test, which concluded with the Crew Dragon’s and learning more about the test today and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:30 a.m. EST on Jan. 19, 2020,
planned splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, demonstrated the carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft on the company’s uncrewed In-Flight
recovery efforts. We’re grateful for all the hard work
spacecraft’s escape capabilities in preparation for crewed Abort Test. The flight test demonstrated the spacecraft’s escape capabilities
flights to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s to get here and looking forward to the work that we in preparation for crewed flights to the International Space Station as part of
Commercial Crew Program. Photo credit: SpaceX have left to do.” the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray

4 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 5

The Mars 2020 rover heat shield is
mated to the back shell in the Payload
Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy
Space Center on Jan. 10, 2020. Built by
Lockheed Martin Space, the heat shield
and back shell will protect the rover
during its passage to Mars. The Mars
2020 rover was manufactured at NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California
and, once complete, was delivered to
Kennedy on Feb. 12, 2020. The mission is
scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station in Florida in the summer
of 2020. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
HEATING UP
Solar Orbiter embarks on ambitious mission to face the Sun
Solar Orbiter
Media Day
Members of the media were
given the opportunity to view
BY ANNA HEINEY and photograph the Solar
Orbiter spacecraft up close
T he Solar Orbiter spacecraft is heading toward the
Sun after a late-night launch on Sunday, Feb. 9, from
Florida’s Space Coast aboard a United Launch Alliance
inside the Astrotech Space
Operations payload processing
(ULA) Atlas V rocket. The vehicle lifted off from Space
facility in Titusville, Florida, on
Dec. 16, 2019.
Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at
11:03 p.m. EST. Representatives from NASA’s
After a nominal ascent, the spacecraft separated from Launch Services Program (LSP),
the rocket’s Centaur upper stage. At 12:24 a.m. Monday, the European Space Agency
mission controllers at the European Space Operations (ESA), United Launch Alliance
Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, received a signal from the (ULA), Airbus Defence and
spacecraft indicating that its solar panels had successfully Space, and NASA’s Goddard
deployed and were drawing power. Space Flight Center provided
“The spacecraft is safe and pointing to the Sun,” said an overview of the mission,
European Space Agency’s (ESA) Cesar Garcia, program spacecraft and launch vehicle.
manager for Solar Orbiter. Solar Orbiter is a space mission
Before the science phase of the mission can begin, Solar of international collaboration
Orbiter will undergo a series of checkouts, from initial between ESA and NASA, and
deployments and checks of the spacecraft’s systems to the spacecraft was developed
turning on and checking its suite of 10 science instruments. by Airbus.
According to Garcia, the testing phase should be finalized
around the end of June 2020. The mission will study the
Solar Orbiter is a cooperative mission between the ESA Sun and how it can affect the
and NASA. ESA’s Engineering & Test Center (ESTEC) space environment throughout
in The Netherlands managed the development effort. The
the solar system, and it also
spacecraft has been developed by Airbus. The European
will provide the first images of
the Sun’s poles. Solar Orbiter
Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Germany will operate
launched from Cape Canaveral
Solar Orbiter. The Solar Orbiter mission is managed by
Air Force Station’s Space
ESA; the scientific payload elements of Solar Orbiter are
Launch Complex 41 aboard a
being provided by ESA Member States, NASA and ESA.
ULA Atlas V rocket on Feb. 9,
United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, provided
2020. LSP managed the launch.
the Atlas V launch service.
NASA Launch Director Tim Dunn of the agency’s Photo credit:
Launch Services Program, which had responsibility for NASA/Frank Michaux
launch management, credited the combined efforts of the
ULA, ESA and NASA teams to overcome challenges to
make the launch successful.
“This is an international collaboration 10-plus years
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, carrying the Solar Orbiter, lifts off Space Launch Complex
in the making,” Dunn said. “When a team is focused on 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 11:03 p.m. EST, on Feb. 9, 2020. Photo credit:
mission success, that’s a language that we all speak.” NASA/Tony Gray and Tim Terry

8 SPACEPORT Magazine
 NASA Rings in Busy New Year in Florida to Prepare for Artemis Missions
BY LINDA HERRIDGE
N ASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will have a busy year
preparing facilities, ground support equipment and space
hardware for the launch of Artemis I, the first uncrewed launch of
the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.
In 2020, Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) activities will ramp
up as launch hardware arrives and teams put systems in place for
Artemis I and II missions.
Launch Countdown Simulation Activities
Launch countdown simulations will continue to ramp up in
2020 to train and certify the launch control team for Artemis
missions. The types of simulations will build on one another and
will walk through the final portions of the launch countdown
sequence, called the terminal countdown. Integrated simulations
will tie in all NASA centers working the mission to ensure all
members of the team are ready to work together, including Mission
Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the SLS
Engineering Support Center at Marshall Space Flight Center
in Alabama. Simulations will begin at the end of January and will
occur up through one week before launch, with an average of one
training exercise each month.
Vehicle Assembly Building
Much of the work in 2020 will be to complete a punch list
of detail work inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This
includes cleaning the platforms and making minor repairs to any
platform hardware that will be near flight hardware as the facility
prepares for arrival of SLS components and stacking operations.
“We are at a very significant point in NASA’s Artemis mission,”
said Mike Bolger, program manager of EGS. “The EGS team has
finished mobile launcher testing at the launch pad and will finish
testing at the VAB in January. At that point, all of the launch
infrastructure will be tested and ready for operations.”
10 SPACEPORT Magazine
Members of the Artemis I launch team monitor activities during the first formal terminal
countdown simulation inside Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Launch Complex 39B
Teams will continue work on a new emergency egress system for
Pad 39B where flight or ground crew could board a basket with a
braking system at the crew access level of the mobile launcher. The
crew would ride the basket down a cable and come to a stop near
a bunker to the west of the pad surface, providing quick escape
A view looking up at the 10 levels of work platforms in High Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The work platforms will surround and
provide access for service and processing of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis missions. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
in the unlikely event of an emergency. The design phase began in
2019 and construction will be complete in time to support crewed
Artemis missions.
The pad is currently getting a liquid hydrogen upgrade. The
project involves the integration of a new 1.4 million gallon,
liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage sphere into the existing Launch
Complex 39B system. The new LH2 sphere will work with the
current LH2 sphere to supply LH2 for Artemis II and beyond.
The larger tank will allow NASA to attempt SLS launches on three
consecutive days, instead of opportunities two out of three days, in
the event of a scrub. The newer technology reduces liquid hydrogen
burn-off, allowing more launch attempts before having to refill the
larger tank. Construction began in 2019 and will be complete prior
to Artemis II.
Orion Underway Recovery Test 8
The integrated recovery team of NASA, EGS, Lockheed Martin
and the U.S. Navy, along with additional contractor support, will
head out to sea off the coast of California in March to conduct the
eighth Underway Recovery Test. Using a Navy ship with a well
deck and several small boats, the primary objective is to validate
Orion recovery operations for Artemis I — including procedures
and timelines, and practicing different scenarios.
Orion Spacecraft
This spring, the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I will return
from NASA’s unique test facility at Plum Brook Station in Ohio,
where it is currently undergoing environmental testing inside the
vacuum chamber that simulates the harsh environment of space.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C)
Building at Kennedy, technicians will install the spacecraft’s solar
array wings before performing final checkouts. EGS will begin
Orion ground processing and stacking activities later in the year.
The team will process and fuel Orion in the Multi-Purpose
Processing Facility then transfer it over to the Launch Abort
System Facility where engineers will attach the launch abort system.
Orion will then roll out to the VAB for inspections before stacking
Orion on top of the SLS rocket.
In its early processing stages, the Artemis II crew module
milestones inside the O&C include propulsion tank installation, a
pressure test and subsystems installations in the spring. The initial
power-on of the crew module will occur in early fall. The heat shield
that will protect the first crewed mission of Orion will be completed
and installed by the end of the year. Processing and testing of the
crew module adapter – the ring that connects to the European
Service Module – for Artemis II will happen in the first half of the
year prior to the arrival of the European Service Module in the fall.
SPACEPORT Magazine 11
 Build-up of a new liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage
tank is in progress at Launch Complex 39B at
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
new tank will hold 1.25 million gallons of usable
LH2 to support future launches from the pad,
including Artemis missions to the Moon and on
to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Space Launch System
Training activities with pathfinders, or full-scale replicas, of
the SLS core stage and booster segments occurred in 2019, and
more training with various pathfinder segments and hardware will
continue. In 2020, training will involve stacking inert booster
segments on the mobile launcher in the VAB.
Hardware for SLS will continue to arrive for processing and
integration in various Kennedy facilities. This year all ten of the
solid propellant booster segments will arrive by train from their
Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility in Promontory, Utah.
The launch vehicle stage adapter, which will connect the SLS core
stage to the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, will arrive by
barge. The booster aft skirts – which contain the thrust vector
control system that steers the rocket – will trek from the Booster
Fabrication Facility to the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility
where they will be attached to the aft exit cones. The exit cones are
attached to the bottommost part of each of the twin boosters to
provide extra thrust to the boosters and protect the aft skirts from
the thermal environment during launch.
The core stage of the SLS rocket will undergo a Green Run
test campaign over several months in the B-2 test stand at the
agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Following Green Run
12 SPACEPORT Magazine
NASA’s mobile launcher,
carried atop the crawler-
transporter 2, returns
to the Vehicle Assembly
Building on Dec. 20, 2019,
after spending months
at Launch Pad 39B
undergoing final validation
and verification testing
at the agency’s Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.
Photo credit: NASA/Ben
Smegelsky
completion, the 225,000-pound core stage will leave Stennis and
arrive at Kennedy on the Pegasus barge. The core stage and solid
rocket boosters will then be integrated inside the VAB.
Mobile Launcher 2
In 2019, NASA awarded a contract for Mobile Launcher 2 to
Bechtel National Inc. of Reston, Virginia. The ground structure that
will be used to assemble, process and launch the second and more
powerful configuration of the SLS rocket, called Block 1B, is in its
early stages of design and development and will be ready for Artemis
IV.
Artemis I will be the first in a series of increasingly challenging
missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars.
In 2020, the mission will truly begin to take shape as hardware
arrives and stacking operations begin inside the VAB.
“The operations team is writing procedures, training, and
preparing for flight hardware processing,” Bolger said. “When the
SLS and Orion are turned over to EGS later this year, Kennedy will
be ready!”
Future Artemis missions will establish a sustainable presence at the
The Orion crew module for Artemis I is lifted by crane on July 16, 2019, in the high bay inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy
Moon for decades to come, and Kennedy teams will move forward in
Space Center in Florida. The crew module was moved to the final assembly and test cell and work was completed to secure it atop the service module. Photo credit:
2020 to build the infrastructure and make those missions possible. NASA/Ben Smegelsky
SPACEPORT Magazine 13
Human Spaceflight Launches Returning to
Kennedy Space Center
BY MARIE LEWIS

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program will return human spaceflight

capability to the United States in 2020, with the first crewed launches to the
International Space Station from U.S. soil since the space shuttle’s retirement
in 2011.
NASA and its commercial partners, Boeing and SpaceX, achieved significant
progress in 2019 with the completion of SpaceX’s uncrewed Demo-1 mission,
Boeing’s Pad Abort Test, and Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT). SpaceX
also completed its In-Flight Abort test in January 2020.
This spring, SpaceX is targeting its final flight test, known as Demo-2, which
will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station
aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. The end-to-end flight test
is planned to validate all aspects of SpaceX’s crew transportation system.
NASA and Boeing formed a joint, independent investigation team to examine
the primary issues associated with the company’s uncrewed OFT, which did not
dock to the space station as intended. The independent team will inform NASA
and Boeing on the root cause of the mission elapsed timer anomaly and any other
software issues and provide corrective actions needed before flying crew to the
space station. The team will review the primary anomalies experienced during
the December 2019 flight test, any potential contributing factors and provide
recommendations to ensure a robust design for future missions.
In parallel, NASA is evaluating the data received during OFT to determine
if another uncrewed demonstration is required. This decision is not expected for
several weeks as teams take the necessary time for this review. NASA’s approach will
be to determine if NASA and Boeing received enough data to validate the system’s
overall performance, including launch, on-orbit operations, guidance, navigation
and control, docking/undocking to the space station, reentry and landing.
Although data from the uncrewed test is important for certification, it may not be
the only way that Boeing is able to demonstrate its system’s full capabilities.
The start of a new decade also marks a new era in American human spaceflight.
NASA is spurring economic growth in low-Earth orbit and working to open
access to more people and more science than ever before. Upon successful NASA
certification, Boeing and SpaceX are each slated to fly six crew missions to the
space station continuing through 2024.
Commercial transportation to and from station will enable its expanded
use, additional research time and broader opportunities of discovery aboard the
orbiting laboratory. The station is critical for NASA to understand and overcome
the challenges of long-duration spaceflight, and necessary for a sustainable presence
on the Moon and missions deeper into the solar system, including Mars. These
integrated spacecraft and launch vehicles will carry up to four astronauts at a time
on NASA missions, with the goal of maintaining a crew of seven to maximize A two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for Demo-1, the A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex
scientific research time on the orbiting laboratory. first uncrewed mission of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff was at 2:49 a.m., March 2, 2019. The SpaceX Crew 41 on Dec. 20, 2019. Launch was at 6:36 a.m. EST, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in
As we turn over low-Earth orbit to commercial companies, we are preparing Dragon’s trip to the International Space Station was designed to validate end-to-end systems and capabilities, leading to Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Koswky
certification to fly crew. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
to explore the Moon and Mars – and commercial companies, like Boeing and
SpaceX, will join us on that journey.

14 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 15

 NASA’s Launch Services Program Prepares for Upcoming 2020 Missions
BY DANIELLE SEMPSROTT

NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) is ringing in Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, the final mission of 2020, is
the New Year with three planned science missions in 2020, projected to launch later in the year and will observe global
aimed at studying the Sun, Mars and our oceans. The first sea level changes. The mission – a collaboration between ESA
two missions will be launching from Cape Canaveral Air and NASA – aims to collect high-precision ocean altimetry
Force Station in Florida, while the third will launch from measurements using two consecutive and identical satellites.
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Sentinel-6 mission will launch from California on a
Launching in February, Solar Orbiter is a collaborative SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and “LSP is incredibly excited to execute the 2020
NASA, which will study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and the launch manifest,” said Tim Dunn, LSP launch director.
solar wind. The spacecraft, developed by Airbus Defence and “Additionally, LSP will provide advisory expertise for four
Space, will provide the first-ever images of the Sun’s poles. The Commercial Crew Program missions and four Commercial
Solar Orbiter spacecraft will launch aboard a United Launch Resupply Services program missions – all in support of the
Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 411 rocket, and liftoff is scheduled for International Space Station. Also, throughout the year, LSP
Feb. 5. LSP will manage the launch. will be launching numerous CubeSat missions, focused on
NASA’s Mars 2020 mission is targeting to launch in July. making space accessible to educational institutions.”
Established under the agency’s
Mars Exploration Program, the
mission will send a rover to the
Red Planet to search for signs of
ancient microbial life. It also will
help us better understand the
planet’s geology, collect rock and soil
samples that can later be returned
to Earth and test new technologies
that could pave the way for future
human exploration of Mars.
The rover is being manufactured
at the agency’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in California and will
be sent to NASA’s Kennedy Space
Center in mid-February. The rover
will launch on a ULA Atlas V 541
rocket, procured by LSP, and is
expected to land on Mars on Feb.
18, 2021.

Both halves of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing are positioned for installation around the Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside the Astrotech Space
Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, on Jan. 20, 2020. The fairing provides a protective, aerodynamic covering to the payload inside during the early
minutes of ascent. Solar Orbiter launched aboard the Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff
An artist’s concept occurred at 11:03 p.m. EST on Feb. 9, 2020. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
of NASA’s Mars 2020
rover exploring the
Red Planet. Image
credit: NASA

16 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 17

NASA Ready to Push Exploration Farther Than Ever in the New Year
BY LEEJAY LOCKHART
The Exploration Research and Technology (ER&T)
programs at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is a unique
resource for the multi-user spaceport, supporting operations and
technology development that will eventually allow humanity to
explore farther into deep space than ever before.
November 2, 2020, will mark 20 years of human occupation on
the International Space Station, and throughout this year ER&T
plans to enable science research done on the space station with
payload processing and logistic support of the orbiting laboratory.
Collaborating with NASA’s partners, including commercial
companies and international partners, ER&T will fulfill the goal
of increased commercialization of the space station, which will add
to the growing activity in low-Earth orbit, while still supporting
governmental roles.
Developing technologies that allow explorers to live off the
land contributes to the sustainable exploration of the Moon
and eventually Mars, and in 2020, ER&T has several important
biological experiments planned for the year to enable sustained
exploration. Plants including radishes, amara mustard and peppers
will fly to the station this year for testing and these experiments
will use a combination of the Advanced Plant Habitat and Veggie
18 SPACEPORT Magazine
growth chambers for this new plant research. While astronauts
have grown and consumed red romaine lettuce on the station
before, in 2020 the growth chamber will test out a new technology
called seed film, which is a water-soluble, dissolving film that will
allow astronauts to plant seeds after the seeds arrive on station.
Several other previously grown plant species also will be part of
experiments on the station. These scientific investigations improve
the technology development happening at Kennedy and supports
NASA’s efforts to expand the frontier of knowledge, capability and
opportunity in space.
An important mission for ER&T is taking emerging
technologies and furthering their development with the ultimate
goal being to infuse the technology into future missions. In 2020,
much of this technology development will support NASA’s efforts to
land the first woman and next man on the Moon’s surface as part of
the Artemis program and return launches of astronauts to American
soil as part of the Commercial Crew program.
These projects are solving a wide range of issues explorers will
face in the coming years. By using the crushed rocks and dust that
covers the surface of the Moon, called regolith, then melting it
and using electrolysis, one ER&T investigation hopes to advance
Inside the Space Station
Processing Facility at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, peppers are harvested
on Jan. 15, 2020, for a growth
assessment. The peppers were
grown here on Earth under Janine Captain, principal investigator for the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo), attaches a mass spectrometer sensor to
similar conditions found in a test rig at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. MSolo is slated to fly to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload
space to determine how well Services. One of the missions will send a mobile robot named the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon to
the crop can grow. Research prospect for water. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Research Center
scientists waited until the
peppers were red, or nearly all
red, before harvesting them for
the test. As we prepare to send technology for producing oxygen for space explorers, Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo).
humans beyond low-Earth which also could produce metals as a byproduct. Another The sensor will be on future landers and lunar rovers
orbit, the ability for astronauts
project will examine using resources found on the Moon and has the ability to measure resources that readily turn
to grow a variety of fresh fruits
and vegetables in space will to build infrastructure such as landing pads to mitigate into a liquid or a gas, including water, when it arrives on
be critical. Ultimately, fresh the effects of rocket plumes at landing sites. the Moon. Using an off-the-shelf resource and working
produce will be an essential
supplement to the crew’s
For the first time since the Apollo era, the Artemis with a commercial partner has led to products capable of
pre-packaged diet, prepping program is developing a human lunar lander, and meeting NASA’s exploration requirements, while giving
them for long-duration space ER&T is working to support operations on the lunar the commercial partner information that it can use to
exploration. Photo credit:
NASA/Ben Smegelsky surface. ER&T also is working on projects related to improve their products, enabling exploration through
the Commercial Lunar Payload Services, like the Mass expertise and innovation.
SPACEPORT Magazine 19
On Dec. 11, 2019, OSCAR reached a major milestone when it
launched on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. This suborbital flight
added valuable OSCAR microgravity performance data to previously
collected data from lab and drop tests. This was the first full-stack
payload launched on a Blue Origin rocket, which means it was bigger
than previous payloads giving OSCAR the space it needed to conduct
its flight test. Photo credit: Blue Origin

From left, team members Annie Meier, Malay Shah and Jamie Toro assemble the flight hardware for NASA’s Orbital Syngas
Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) on Oct. 10, 2019, in the Space Station Processing Facility at the agency’s
Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

OSCAR Launches on Blue

Origin New Shepard Rocket
On Dec. 11, 2019, NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) reached a major milestone when
it launched on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on NS-12 from the company’s West Texas launch site in Van Horn. This
suborbital flight added valuable OSCAR performance data to data from previous lab and drop tests, which will help guide
future development of the technology. This was the first full-stack payload launched on a Blue Origin rocket, which means it
was bigger than previous payloads giving OSCAR the space it needed to conduct its flight test.

OSCAR experienced microgravity for several minutes in Blue Origin’s capsule as the spacecraft descended to Earth, deploying
its parachutes and landing in Texas.

OSCAR has a prototype reactor that it uses to turn things like food packaging, old clothing and even human waste into water
and a mixture of gases that is primarily carbon dioxide with small amounts of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane.
While in microgravity, OSCAR successfully turned trash into gas and is one of several logistics reduction technologies NASA is
investigating that could be useful for long-duration space exploration.

SPACEPORT Magazine 21
Team Practices Booster Stacking
for Artemis Missions
By Linda Herridge
NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems team, including engineers, technicians and crane
operators with contractor Jacobs, is practicing lifting and stacking operations with
pathfinder segments of Northrup Grumman’s solid rocket boosters, which will provide
extra thrust for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. Practice is taking place in High
Bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in
Florida.
”The pathfinder training has gone extremely well,” according to Michael McClure,
Jacobs’ lead engineer for the Handling, Mechanical and Structures Engineering Group.
“This is part of a series of practice exercises, which are providing great experience,
especially for our new technicians, engineers, quality control personnel and crane
operators.”
Stacking rehearsals help prepare the team for actual processing of launch hardware
for Artemis missions. These specific pathfinder segments are inert, full-scale replicas
of the actual solid rocket boosters, with the same weight (300,000 pounds) and center
of gravity.
During launch hardware processing, the booster segments will be shipped by train to
Kennedy from the Northrup Grumman facility in Utah. They will arrive at a processing
facility to be configured for final processing, then move to the VAB, where the launch
processing team will stack them vertically on the mobile launcher. After the boosters
are stacked, the SLS Core Stage will be lowered onto the mobile launcher and will be
mated to the boosters.
At launch, the five-segment, 17-story-tall twin boosters will provide 3.6 million pounds
of thrust each at liftoff to help launch the SLS carrying Orion on Artemis I, its first
uncrewed mission beyond the Moon.

In High Bay 4 of the Vehicle

Assembly Building at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, a crane moves Space
Launch System (SLS) solid
rocket booster pathfinder
segments to stack them atop
other pathfinder segments
during a training exercise on
Jan. 8, 2020. Photo credit:
NASA/Glenn Benson
 From Spaceport News
to Spaceport Magazine
NOVEMBER 21, 1963 JUNE 3, 1965 JANUARY 18, 1968
The first issue of Spaceport News, the official publication of
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (originally named the NASA Launch
Operations Center), was Dec. 13, 1962. The center held a contest
to name the publication, and “Spaceport News” was born.

Spaceport News started as a weekly and morphed into a bi-

weekly publication. Coverage included employee news, awards,
center events, launches and processing. Mainly a black-and-
white publication in the beginning, the layout and style of
Spaceport News matured to keep up with the times from the
1960s to present day.

Special color issues were published as events and anniversaries

occurred over the years. These included anniversaries for the
Apollo 11 Moon Landing, International Space Station, Space
Shuttle Program, NASA and Kennedy Space Center. JULY 23, 1969 AUGUST 24, 1972 OCTOBER 4, 1973
Before the advent of the internet, Spaceport News was printed
and mailed to employees. By the early 2000s, it was made
available to the workforce as an online publication. In 2014,
the decision was made to change from a bi-weekly black-and-
DECEMBER 13, 1962 white publication to a monthly color digital publication. The first
monthly edition was issued in April 2014.

The following pages are a representative sampling of some of the issues through the years. Some
of the editions are available online. You can view full issues by clicking on the date.

We hope you enjoy this cruise down memory lane.

Linda Herridge, Tracy Young, Amy Lombardo,

Spaceport News Editor News Chief Graphic Artist JULY 16, 1974 JULY 14, 1975 AUGUST 22, 1975

24 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 25

 JULY 13, 1979 DECEMBER 5, 1980 APRIL 24, 1981 JULY 9, 1982 OCTOBER 14, 1983 NOVEMBER 7, 1986

JULY 1, 1987 OCTOBER 14, 1988 JULY 16, 1989 JUNE 15, 1990 APRIL 12, 1991 MARCH 13, 1992

APRIL 22, 1994 JUNE 16, 1995 JULY 9, 1999 JULY 28, 2000 APRIL 12, 2001 MAY 1, 2009

26 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 27

 Remembering Our Heritage

JUNE 29, 2012 DECEMBER 16, 2013 APRIL 2014

Aboard space shuttle Challenger, NASA astronaut Guion S. Bluford, STS-8 mission specialist, assists Dr. William
E. Thornton (out of frame) with a medical test that requires use of the treadmill exercising device designed for
spaceflight by the STS-8 medical doctor. Bluford became the first African American astronaut to fly in space nearly
37 years ago. Challenger lifted off from Launch Pad 39A on Aug. 30, 1983, at 2:32 a.m. EDT. Photo credit: NASA

JULY 2015 SEPTEMBER 2017 AUGUST 2018

Astronaut John Glenn in

the Friendship 7 capsule
during the first manned
orbital flight, the MA-6
mission. Boosted by the
Mercury-Atlas vehicle, the
MA-6 mission lasted for 5
hours and orbited the Earth
three times. Friendship 7
launched atop the rocket
on Feb. 20, 1962. Astronaut
Glenn became the first
American to orbit the Earth
58 years ago this month.
Photo credit: NASA

JUNE 2018 JUNE 2019 DECEMBER 2019

28 SPACEPORT Magazine
 The Many Stories of the VAB
Kennedy Space Center
Director Bob Cabana,
far right, accepts
the National Historic
Civil Engineering
Landmark award from
the Florida Section
American Society of
BY LAURA AGUIAR Civil Engineers (ASCE)
for the Vehicle Assembly

N ASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building first housed the Saturn

rockets and then the space shuttles. It will next serve as the
final assembly and processing site for NASA’s Space Launch System
rocket and Orion spacecraft that will send the first woman and
the next man to the Moon on Artemis missions. As a national
landmark, it is home to many stories in its history and also remains
a critical part of future plans to support human exploration of Mars. [turn basin] when we started,” said Moyer.
Dick Bergmann was an architect in his twenties, working on a
post office for the New York City firm Max O. Urbahn, when Mr.
Urbahn came to his desk and asked him to put it aside for a quick
project that afternoon. The firm was making a pitch to NASA’s
Werner Von Braun and Dr. Kurt Debus, and Urbahn needed a
sketch of a building that could house rockets.
“It needs to fit the Seagram building inside of it,” Bergmann
was told.
Bergmann had worked with guided missiles in the
Army, but was uncertain about the scale of a rocket. So he
walked up the street to Park Avenue to take a look at the
Seagram building. At 38 stories tall, it’s 515 feet in height.
Bergmann drafted a concept with four work bays
that went up 525 feet, and took it to a printer in the
city that could produce the eight–foot-tall sketch for the
presentation. “I had just hung the print on the wall and
was escaping out one door while Von Braun and Dr. Debus
were coming in the other,” remembered Bergmann.
It was first referred to as a “vertical” assembly building,
but the name would quickly be changed to the Vehicle
Assembly Building and more commonly referred to as the
VAB. Bergmann designed the VAB to cover eight acres at
716 feet long and 518 feet wide.
During the pitch, Von Braun and Dr. Debus told
Urbahn they would like four silos positioned in a row,
instead of two by two, in order to build Saturn rockets for
what would become the Apollo program. But Bergmann
says Urbahn trusted his sketch and explained to the pair
that “Florida has hurricanes. A building that size would
become a sail.” Von Braun and Debus awarded the project
as presented.
Max O. Urbahn had one year to start construction. The
government was not confident that one company could pull off the
enormous project given the timeline and needed manpower. Phil
Moyer was the project manager responsible for the venture. “We
had three companies that had already worked together on a military
project in Pakistan,” said Moyer. NASA was in a race. Moyer said they of The American Institute of Architects honored the facility and
added a fourth company and rented office space for 300 employees.
After President John F. Kennedy declared the U.S. was going
to the Moon, “I could use that as leverage to get more men,” said
Moyer. “We put men up in 32 nearby hotel rooms so they could go
Building during a
ceremony in front of
the iconic facility on
Jan. 10, 2020. Next to
get eight hours of sleep.” Cabana, from left are
Moyer spent several years traveling between New York and Carol Stevens, ASCE
Society of History and
Florida. “There was nothing out here but an eagles’ nest at the dock Heritage Committee
member; and Peter
As chief designer, Bergmann spent a lot of time traveling Moore, ASCE Region 5
director. Photo credit:
between the office and construction site as well. He remembers NASA/Kim Shiflett
once when he misjudged the insect problem in Florida. “I was
painting the model of the VAB in a fellow’s garage in Cocoa. The
bugs were attracted by the smell and stuck all over the lacquer,” said
Bergmann. “I spent an entire night first exterminating the garage, award, recognizing the exceptional contributions of the unique The VAB was complete in 1966. “The most amazing thing is
then repainting the thing!” buildings’ architects and engineers. that it ended up looking like that first sketch,” said Bergmann. At
Moyer and Bergmann recently joined the sons and grandsons of the time, it was the largest building in the world by volume and
Max Urbahn for a visit to the VAB roof. “I’ve spent a lot of my time remains the tallest building in the U.S outside an urban area.
on roofs,” said the now 95-year-old Moyer. “There is no such thing After the end of the project, Bergmann left the firm. He had
as a perfect roof. The weather always gets ‘em.” worked a lot of overtime and skipped many vacations because of the
“It’s a remarkable roof,” said Bergmann, as he took pictures of tight deadlines. “I was exhausted,” said Bergmann. “So I asked them
the roof. “After all of this time, it’s my first time up here!” to cut me a check for those days and I quit.”
Eric Urbahn recalled visiting the VAB construction site with his In the years following, Bergmann and his wife traveled
father when he was just sixteen. “There were dozens of cranes,” said extensively throughout Europe and all the way to Cape Town,
Eric Urbahn, now 71. South Africa where he worked for another architectural firm. Yet,
“As the building went up, the cranes went with it,” noted despite the worldly adventures, “the VAB is the highlight of my
Bergmann. “They were lifting each other up.” career,” said Bergmann.
Dick Bergmann,
second from
left, original lead
designer for the
Vehicle Assembly
Building (VAB), and
Phil Moyer, second
The Florida Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers bestowed the ASCE National Historic Civil from right, original
Engineering Landmark award to Kennedy Space Center’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building during a project lead, are
ceremony on Jan. 10, 2020. The VAB is the first building at Kennedy Space Center to earn this distinction. on the roof of the
At the time of its completion, the 129-million-cubic-foot structure was the largest building in the world. VAB during a tour
Originally designed and built to accommodate the Saturn V/Apollo used in Project Apollo, the VAB was of Kennedy Space
later modified for its role in the Space Shuttle Program. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Center in Florida
with descendants
of Max Urbahn, the
With the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, as well as the original architect,
ramping up of the Artemis program to explore more of the Moon, on Nov. 22, 2019.
At far left is Kelvin
the VAB is again attracting attention. The American Society of Manning, Kennedy
Civil Engineers has designated the VAB as a National Historic associate director,
Civil Engineering Landmark. Last August, the Florida Association technical. Photo
credit: NASA/Frank
Michaux
its adjacent Launch Control Center with a “Test of Time” design

30 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 31

 NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Ends Mission
of Astronomical Discovery

After more than 16 years studying the universe in infrared

light, revealing wonders in our solar system, our galaxy,
and beyond, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope’s mission
has come to an end.

Mission engineers confirmed at 5:30 p.m. EST on Jan. 30,

2020, the spacecraft was placed in safe mode, ceasing
all science operations. After the decommissioning was
confirmed, Spitzer Project Manager Joseph Hunt declared
the mission had officially ended.

Launched in 2003, Spitzer was one of NASA’s four Great

Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope,
the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma
Ray Observatory. The Great Observatories program
demonstrated the power of using different wavelengths of
light to create a fuller picture of the universe.

Among its many scientific contributions, Spitzer studied

comets and asteroids in our own solar system and
found a previously unidentified ring around Saturn.
It studied star and planet formation, the evolution of
galaxies from the ancient universe to today, and the
composition of interstellar dust.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,

conducted mission operations and managed Spitzer for
the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, California, built the
spacecraft. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation
in Boulder, Colorado provided the optics, cryogenics and
thermal shells and shields for Spitzer.

View some of the amazing images showcasing

some of Spitzer’s greatest discoveries at

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7221.

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has concluded after more than 16 years
of exploring the universe in infrared light. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

www.nasa.gov

NP-2020-01-054-KSC SPACEPORT MAGAZINE